A great fun class, where all of the children are entertained and have a fun time. Coach Marie and... View More..Ian, father of Robert - S4K Kickers - Egham

We have been extremely impressed with your set up. The kids have
absolutely loved going to the... View More..Rachael - mother of Claudia and Joshua - S4K Kickers, Guildford

Sport4Kids Football Coaching, Child Development & Girls Football Blog!

We are passionate about everything to do with sport and child development. We have a number of authors who love nothing better than to post about their passions, thoughts and feelings around the sports that they love. Take a look at our posts below and remember to link in with your favourite authors via email and social media!

This blog aims to look into the best philosophies and methods for creating a "Beyond the Best" football coaching approach. Taking tips from the Dutch, Brazilians and the Spanish as well as acknowledging child enagagement levels and passion for sport.

Often, parents will discuss their child’s lack of interest in Sport and question why, but struggle to understand the root cause. Children are now growing up in a digital age and are getting exposed to Tablets, Smart-Phones and Social Media which is unfortunately distracting them from Physical Education. Furthermore, the government recently announced some astounding statistics on the increase of child obesity in England and Wales which is largely contributed by children not attaining a correct diet. There is not an easy answer to overcome these challenges of growing up in 21st Century, but as a parent, a large percentage of this dis-engagement can be down to parental responsibility in combination with the learning environment that the children find themselves in. As a parent I was always keen on my kids getting involved in Sporting Activities, both at School and After School. One area that struck me whilst taking my kids to a Weekend Football session was the unfortunate lack of engagem...

Cruyff died this week and the breaking news sent shivers down my spine. He has been my inspiration for decades. Taking his vision and passion for beautiful football can we use it to be an inspiration for the way we teach kids football?Kids play everywhere on the streets, in park, in the garden, in the hall way, on the drive and in the street. They think and emulate their heroes. When I was little a very young and impressionable 12 year old I saw the take-over of football thinking and beliefs by Cruyff. Total Football and that amazing Cruyff Turn transformed the way that people looked at football.I will never forget the moment my Co-Founder Dr Mark Gould phoned me up with the sad breaking news with the words "Your man has died". It brought so many conflicting thoughts and emotions. Yes saddened by the loss, the dire news. However it did bring shivers down my spine as I hurriedly turned on the TV to see all the mass coverage of this momentous event. Till his death he remained and st...

One of the greatest myths of mankind revolves around whether ability is a gift of genetics or a learned blessing for those provided with the correct tools to succeed. As a child footballer, I was never blessed with the natural athletisism of some of my peers, who would execute step overs and audacious tricks with confidence all over the pitch - but what was the main difference? Well, I never tried the tricks...
Children who believe that ability can be learned through practice tend to succeed in situations that are difficult. On the flip side, children who feel that ability is natural, tend to give up easier or not attempt a harder task, for fear of losing their "gifted" status. Now, I'm not claiming to have been "gifted", but what I am claiming is that it is easy for children to be put off practicing their skills, because they are a) scared of making a mistake and b) do not feel that they will ever reach the level of their peers.
We need to make sure that we e...

Today, we went to our very first kids football U7’s league match. The day started well, getting up at the rise, all excited, nerves and expectancy in the air.I have to admit I was fairly worried. We were worried parents. Would we go to the right place? Would we remember all the kit? Would everyone get there? Would we be on time? Would we get our team instructions right? Would the kids enjoy it?And of course the biggest worry of all – the parents … not really ours, but the oppositions. Would they be nice? Stories of parent bad behaviour is rampant all across the media, we all know that it is painted as the scourge of English football. Even Gary Lineker has had his say and fill of bad parent experiences. Having read all the reports we had images of parents shouting at the players, the referee and opposition players and parents.Tom Spring the Explorers U7’s Team Manager seemed a cracking chap on the phone, “it’s all about the kids enjoying themselves” he said. Being the first time our kid...

Sport4Kids - 15 Tips for Coaching Safe Heading for Kids FootballHeading the ball correctly is important for both fun and enjoyment but also for the safety of children and players as they develop. Safety is the key element and helping children to learn the proper way is crucial. Developing the right muscles and strength in their bodies and to get them to react well and prepare to head a ball is a key part of safe heading. The key to the prevention of concussion in heading starts with teaching our kids the right way to head the ball when they are young. Here are some tips that all parents and wannabe coaches should read for helping our kids get the right start - teaching kids football the right way.
1. Balloons & Head Tennis. Start them young with the concept of heading. In the safety of your own home get your children to play head tennis with a balloon. Starting with hitting the balloon in the air with their hands and then with their heads. Starting wi...

You will all best know me as Coach Charlotte, and having worked as an Assistant Coach at Sport4Kids for just shy of 2 years, I am sure I have met many of you, especially those in the Windsor area and at St John Beaumont School. Those that know me may have also realized that I have been absent from coaching our kids football classes this summer as I have been volunteering abroad in Sri Lanka. As a Psychology undergraduate this largely involved work in mental health facilities and special needs projects, however I also took over a football program at a local community school. Football coaching in Sri Lanka was a far cry from my experiences at Sport4Kids. At Sport4Kids we are lucky enough to have the most fantastic facilities and equipment (despite Coach Adam always getting his dirty) although before I went I would never have considered having a ball each a considerable luxury. In Sri Lanka, I was coaching a group of around 40 children with 3 balls and about 6 pairs of shoes bet...

So another World Cup has passed us by and once again, despite having no expectations, England have still managed to under-achieve. The media who cried out for the inclusion of youth are starting the blame game of a lack of experience in the squad - where was Gareth Barry? what about Michael Carrick? Both players villanised as the "old era" of English football. Had they been taken to the World Cup and England were knocked out at this stage, they would have been made the scapegoats. Instead, we find the blame levied at the feet of Wayne Rooney, whom the media once again placed on the national pedestal, before snatching it from under him on the grounds that he did not "cover" Leighton Baines enough against Italy - despite playing in a less than favoured position on the left and covering more ground than any other England player on the night. Oh and let's not forget Steven Gerrard - "captain fantastic" - who is now being pressured to retire following the...

Panini Stickers, The Collapse of the Berlin Wall, The Owls returning to top flight football and off Course Italia 90! It just seems like yesterday, sitting on the couch swotting through my Panini Sticker Book as a 9 year old whose life revolved around football. Little did I know that one Team stood out and in particular one Player…. You guessed it! Roberto Baggio. The young Italian Prodigy who many tipped, would sit in the legends of Football could not have been more right! Seeing flashes of that magical goal against the Czech Republic (Formally known as Czechoslovakia) saw the start of a fantastic football career and inheriting the Number 10 Shirt at Juventus that was worn by the great Michelle Platini. Nearly 25 years have passed by, but it still seems so recent. Whenever, there is a World Cup, I always think back to 1990. It was a truly unforgettable experience and whilst it produced an incalculably dull final, we saw an abundance of goals and a flurry of shocking incidents which ...

Unless you live in a pleasant little cul-de-sac on Neptune, you’ll know that football now finds itself not only the world’s most popular pastime but possibly its greatest obsession. The global enthusiasm for it has reached a level previously unknown, in part due to the financial benefits awaiting its finest exponents but also due to the sheer excitement generated from the game itself. A major bone of contention in the coaching world these days is how to identify and handle the greater numbers of children wanting to play the sport. Equally important, is how to nurture those showing aptitude and talent whilst protecting a child’s natural enthusiasm. The Football Association (FA) has long maintained that children should be coached in organised groups from the age of 5 but those of us in the global football family who are aware of what pre school aged children are truly capable of see it differently. There isn’t a youngster that gives their coach a high five at the start of a k...

I never did get Ndaye Mulamba, Zaire's 9-goal hero of the African Nations Cup some 40 years ago. He was the one blank spot in my otherwise full 1974 World Cup sticker collection. To make matters worse, my doubles pile contained 14 Grzegorz Lato's, England's Polish nemesis. Each time a new packet of stickers was ripped open, I held my breath, hoping upon hope that the Zairian marksman would jump out at me. I even knew his sticker number. Sadly he never did, just a plethora of little fat Poles.
I thought I had eventually laid to rest the ghost of Mulamba, but in 2002, the man came back to haunt me again at the African Festival of football, when a 2 minute silence was held in honour of his passing away. This was a quite stunning tribute to the Congolese veteran, especially given the fact that he was alive and well and living in Cape Town at the time. Ndaye Mulamba, a name I'll take to my own grave.
Nowadays it is much simpler to finish your footy sticker book collection. You can access ...